Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: using fields in a text document

Am 24.06.2011 18:28, schrieb lee:
> Alexander Thurgood<alex.thurgood@gmail.com>  writes:
>
> > Le 24/06/11 15:13, lee a écrit :
> >
> > Hi Lee,
> >
> >
> > > Now I would like to make it so that I can press a button and be
> > > presented with a form or the like that lets me fill in the variable
> > > data, inserts the data at the appropriate places into the document,
> > > saves the document to a file I specify and exports the document as PDF
> > > with a password for access rights to the PDF file set.
> > >
> > > How do I do that? Does it take some kind of advanced programming?
> > If you don't want to go down the mailmerge route, then the answer is
> > yes, you will need to be able to program it in Basic or some other
> > scripting language that LibO knows how to interpret (Javascript or
> > Python for example) and can bind with UNO dialog components.
> Well, I'm thinking about using it, I just don't see yet how I could make
> it really useful.
>
> > Really, the simplest way would be to use a Calc spreadsheet to hold the
> > data, and then bind those fields to your text document.
> That is exactly what I'm trying to avoid. The workflow is like:
>
>
> while(webpages) {
>
>    check out the web page
>
>    decide whether to send my document or not
>
>    if(I send it) {
>      create a new directory to save the document in // this is already
>                                                     // automated by a
>                                                     // shell script
>
>      paste a unique reference number generated by the shell script into
>      the document
>
>      copy and paste some data like a company name and address and a
>      persons name into the document
>
>      adjust the salutation as needed
>
>      go to another place in the document and enter the companys name and
>      city
>
>      save the document in the directory created by the shell script with
>      a meaningful file name (like "<documentname>-<company>")
>
>      export the document as pdf with a permissions password set
>
>      create an email by editing an email template appropriately to send
>      the pdf file by email
>
>      save the webpage in the same directory as the LO document
>
>      make a note in a text file that the document was sent in response to
>      the particular web page
>    }
> }
>
> I can hear this crying for (at least some more) automation from 10 miles
> away ...
This is crying for for some macros and for a database.
if you already know how to  use shell scripts, it's not hard to learn to 
program some macros.
and you can use command-line commands inside macros as well.
so you can integrate your scripts into the macros. ( Coder : shell ( 
command-line command , options , ,).
If you make a database in Base with a table(or better more, with are 
linked together)  with a column  for each entry you have to make in the 
writer-document (and some more for information and ID) ,
you can connect the fields (columns) to text-boxes in the document (with 
invisible borders).
create a form (in Base), to insert the new data.
Then you need a macro to
Sub.....

    -create a new directory to save the document in
    -paste a unique reference number generated by the shell script (bette the macro)
     into the document (better the database)
    -save the document in the directory created by the macro with
     a meaningful file name (like "<documentname>-<company>"(use the database to find this name)
    -export the document as pdf
    -save the PDF with a permissions password (schell command inside the Macro)
    -create an email by editing an email template(using again the data from the database) to send
     the pdf file by email
    -save the webpage in the same directory as the LO document
    -make a note in the database that the document was sent in response to
     the particular web page
End Sub

regards
Frieder


> It is possible to gather the data inserted into the document in
> advance. The problem is that when I do that, I think it would become
> rather difficult to keep track of what happens. And I need to keep track
> of what happens because I have to do some of the steps manually because
> it would be too much effort to automate all of them.
>
> Perhaps there is way to make things easier that I just don't see? I'm
> free to change the workflow in whatever way I like, only the outcome
> needs to be the same.
>
> > Even here though, if you want it to automatically export your filled
> > in text document as a password protected PDF, you will need to learn
> > some kind of programming to automate it.
> Hm, I think someone here posted about commandline options for converting
> to PDF. Perhaps I can use those ...
>
> > Alternatively, use text placeholders in your document, but this will
> > force you to type in each time for each and every different data set.
> Placeholders ... can you address placeholders from the commandline? For
> example, I'd create a document that has 5 placeholder fields and tell LO
> on the commandline to process the document so that the data for the
> fields I supply on the commandline is inserted into the document. Then
> the document is converted to a PDF file.
>
> Or can I use sed to modify the content.xml file and then use LO
> commandline options to turn the file into a PDF? If that's possible, I
> could make a script to produce the PDF files I need automatically ...


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